Am I the only one who thinks this movie is hilariously bad? - They Live (1988) Discussion

[–] Mr-Fusion 14 years ago

As big a fan I am of Carpenter's brand of filmmaking (Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York, The Thing), this might actually be my favorite of his.

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His only weapon ... 600 horses of fuel-injected vengeance.

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[–] TheSolarSailor 14 years ago

The fight scene lasts about 6 minutes. In any case, I enjoy the film quite a bit. Yes, it has some flaws and could have been plotted a bit better, but overall I enjoy the commentary on our country and the corporate greed that Carpenter targeted. I mean, it is STILL relevant today, oddly enough! I have also come to like the music for the film, and it does have more to it than what you say. Really, it isn't of any less quality than Carpenter's other scores if you think about it. It may not be your favorite, but even his much hailed Halloween score is the same thing over and over again at times. Have you ever read the short story upon which this movie was based called Eight O'Clock in the Morning? I just read it the other day and was rather unimpressed. It is a great idea, but it was too short and felt like a rough draft outline for an actual book that never got developed. I like what they did with the film, how they took the basic idea and ran with it. It's a fun little adventure that I think has a healthy mix of sci-fi, satire, action, and comedy.

You sound like me back in 1988 when I first watched the movie. I didn't like the music, hated the fight scene, and generally felt the need to fast forward to the good parts. All of these years later, I find a lot more to appreciate about the movie. I even get a kick out of the fight scene! So I guess it all comes down to whether your going to nitpick it to death, or just sit back and have fun with it.

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] sionxxii 14 years ago

Yes

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[–] perfecto_fan 14 years ago

You can say its bad, but the overall message is certainly within the realm of genius. It is a great flick. Short, sweet, silly, with some awesome points about society and conformity.

It is not that bad as you think. It's B-movie with some amazing commentary.

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[–] SataiDelen 14 years ago

cdhanger-1, you are not the only one who thinks this movie is hilariously bad. What's even funnier is that this movie used to scare me as a kid, but then, I was always very sensitive, and lots of these kinds of movies frightened me. However, I'm watching it right now and the special effects are bad, the dialogue is bad, and the plot is bad.

Sorry, I'm with Michael Douglas's character from Wall Street.... Greed is good! ;) lol

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[–] eyerny 14 years ago

It is very bad. Is it supposed to be serious or satire?

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[–] outsidethegate 14 years ago

Satire, you dolt.

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[–] jtf1986 12 years ago

Satire can be serious. Do you think Swift was just having a laugh when he wrote "A Modest Proposal"?

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[–] PamerEldritch 14 years ago

My take on this has always been that it is a pastiche of 1950s cold war SF a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers and others. What Carpenter did was to replace the "Red Menace" mentality with a "Capitalism Sucks" theme in the midst of a worldwide economic recession. His aliens look the way they do because in 50s movies aliens always looked like human beings wearing rubber masks but also because they were intended to represent the enemy within: "They're out there and they look just like us". It's pointless to criticise the movie as having a cheesy look to it when that was the intention.

Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

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[–] PamerEldritch 14 years ago

My take on this has always been that it is a pastiche of 1950s cold war SF a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers and others. What Carpenter did was to replace the "Red Menace" mentality with a "Capitalism Sucks" theme in the midst of a worldwide economic recession. His aliens look the way they do because in 50s movies aliens always looked like human beings wearing rubber masks but also because they were intended to represent the enemy within: "They're out there and they look just like us". It's pointless to criticise the movie as having a cheesy look to it when that was the intention.

Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

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[–] redrum_ride 14 years ago

I´m reading the original post with my special sunglasses and it says "No Imagination".

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[–] billy_bob_stapel 14 years ago

i guess people who grew up in the 00s or 90s mainly dont take old school cinema for granted. i have seen this plenty of times were people are complaining about this and that but give no real constructive criticism , instead of jabbering how terrible everything was give me a few movie suggestions from the same field , genre whatever where you think this or that point is captured better...its a movie forum afterall.

i for once loved the characters, the common man who is somehow caught up in this world conspiracy, at times completely dumbfounded and unable to plan things. the fight scene is also relevant because nada trusted frank. he wanted to help him, while frank just thought that this crazy fool wants to get at him. i do believe it was silly but i have seen such situations in real life were people were clobbering each other for even more trivial reasons. the social commentary is just carpenters little signature to give the movie an edge and also to voice his own opinion...and to say carpenter is the run out of the mill greedy hollywood director is utter nonsense, carpenter is a filmmaker that has passion for his work. his b movies outclass many a movies simply because he has a very unique style of filmmaking and he likes to choose borderline subjects in most of his movies, he aint a fellini or a scorsese but damn his movies do all have some something special even the bad ones. michael bay on the other hand doesnt even care about the source material and for the love of god never showed me any original idea since he has been working in hollywood. uninspired rubbish, just a wild collage of stolen ideas from other directors.

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[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

billy_bob_stapel, I see you set up a standard that none of the simple minded young kids around here can tackle! Well played, sir!

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] imdb-3754 7 years ago

I was born in the 70's, watched the movie for the first time today, and thought it was mediocre. The story is alright, but it has some serious pacing issues. Also, like the OP, I was seriously disappointed with the score, considering it's a Carpenter movie.

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[–] PamerEldritch 13 years ago

Little point in trying to engage with people whose idea of reasoned debate is to basically say "No, you're wrong, this is crap."

Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

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[–] vjbehm 8 years ago

He's one of them...."they"

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[–] Irishmonk 13 years ago

No, it's just bad. For all the reasons you cited and I'm sure many more. 90 minutes of excruciating, Ed Wood Jr style ineptitude.

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[–] killdawabbittn 13 years ago

Maybe you are. It was just bad. NOT hilariously.

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[–] TheBloodyNine 13 years ago

it's allegoric yet VERY tongue in cheek. you just missed the point. the pacing did suck though.

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[–] borg1005-1 12 years ago

I liked it - a LOT. This is one of the few movies that is different from the original, yet comes out the better for it. (Another one is "Only in America".)

The original had aliens farming humans as a food source, with the same mind-fogging apparatus.

The Earth-as-a-Third-World exploitation, the sell out by the upper crust, and the subliminal messages struck a harmonious note with me. Watched it four times already and still thoroughly enjoy everything except the fist fight. Gonna watch it again this week. Liked the actors too, including Meg Foster with her trippy eyes.

The movie had one of those lines that would be innocuous outside of its context, but within, it was pretty chilling: "We have one who can see".

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[–] SoTyred 12 years ago

I liked it - a LOT. This is one of the few movies that is different from the original, yet comes out the better for it. (Another one is "Only in America".)

The original had aliens farming humans as a food source, with the same mind-fogging apparatus.

Umm...this IS the original. There has never been another version nor remake.

**Skin that Smokewagon and see what happens!** Tombstone

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[–] borg1005-1 12 years ago

I should have made myself clearer. I was talking about the short story it was based upon, titled "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson. It was in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the '60s.

If you can find a copy, check it out. Had an ironic ending.

Hey, found the text! It's at: http://web.archive.org/web/20071211153131/http://www.geocities.com/Hol lywood/Academy/9412/8oclock.html

(Give it a second or so to load - seems to be a slow server)

Man, I LOVE the Internet!

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[–] americanadian25 12 years ago

That's what I love about this movie. It's got an intelligent story with insightful and relevant subtext but it parades itself as a goofy B-Movie. This way it has the fun and enjoyable charm of a cheesy sci-fi flick but has some food for thought too. Best of both worlds.

Game Over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9BBcIKko6A

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[–] haldurgz 8 years ago

It's a transparent anti-immigration fantasy. They want to kill the aliens, not because they are hurting people but because they are aliens and they look too much like us. A lot of bad science fiction hides its xenophobic and sometimes racist or nationalist philosophy in stories like this.

EVERYONE really should read The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad, which satirizes bad science fiction and fantasy stories like this one (of which there are far too many). The twist of that book is that when you open it up to the title page, it reads "Lord of the Swastika" by Adolph Hitler. In an alternate history, instead of becoming leader of Germany, Hitler moves to New York, where he becomes a pulp science fiction writer, and pens a story about heroic pure-bred humans struggling against the the impurities of mutants. But it's a metaphor for all similar science fiction and fantasy stories, where 'races' or 'peoples' or even 'species' are seen as evil as a whole, as a generalization, rather than as individuals. It's a brilliant book, really, and you won't look at another cheap fantasy or science fiction story in the same way again.

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[–] John-367 7 years ago

"It's a transparent anti-immigration fantasy. They want to kill the aliens, not because they are hurting people..."

Hardly, the aliens are trying subdue and brainwash the human population. There are numerous reasons to criticize the film but this isn't one of them.

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